Stargirl - Critical Stargirl is an amazing book written by Jerry Spinelli. It’s about finding who you are and dealing with the every day struggle of stereotypes. This book is filled with many hidden lessons and it really opened my eyes to problems in society today. As a whole our society is portrayed as accepting of others, but when I look around I see something far from that. Everyone is judged on how they look, how they act, what they believe in, and who they love. Stargirl really opened my eyes to these issues and I think this would be an amazing book to teach to kids in middle school and high school because it’s so accurate in depicting what most kids are going through in this period of their lives, and it could help them understand what other people are going through.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I think that it really emphasizes that its important to be who you are whether people accept you for it or not. Kids in middle school and high school are at a time in their lives where they are being judged for everything they do. I think this book would really help them to understand that its okay to be different. If I were to teach this book I would be able to do a couple different lessons because there are so many situations in the book that we could learn from. One of the lessons I would definitely do would focus on bullying, especially with what is happening in schools and over the internet today. Just because someone is different, it doesn't give you a right to make fun of them. When Stargirl first arrived at the school no one would talk to her and everyone thought she was weird, but they didn’t even know her. People just jump to conclusions and make assumptions about a person before they even know them. In the book Leo, another main character said,“We wanted to define her, to wrap her up as we did each other, but we could not seem to get past “weird” and “strange” and “goofy.” What qualities does someone have to possess for them to be considered weird and strange and goofy? I really liked this quote because it really shows that before they even knew anything about her, they already had her labeled as the new weird girl, and they weren’t even going to give her a chance. I think it’s really important for kids to know that this is hurtful, and you never know if you will like someone if you don’t give them the chance to show you who they really are. Another lesson that was hidden in the book was the importance of right vs. wrong. Leo knew that what everyone was doing to Stargirl wasn’t right, and he knew that he shouldn’t care that people were shunning him for associating with her. A part of the book that really resonated with me was when he said, “ In bed that night, as the moonlight reached high tide under my chin, I realized that in fact I understood the question perfectly, I just didn’t want to answer it.” (105). I loved this part because it is so relatable. Everyone no matter what age has been through something like this. People no matter what they say, care what others think about them, and we’ve all been through a time where we know that we should befriend the lonely girl in the cafeteria, or stick up for the small boy in the back of the bus, but we didn’t because we didn’t want other kids to make fun of us too. I think deep down we know what’s right, but we ignore those feelings because of fear. Kids should be willing to defend a classmate or one of their peers because it’s the right thing to do, they shouldn’t be scared that by sticking up for someone and speaking their mind, they will be made fun of in return. In the book Pleasures of Children’s Literature, it talks about authenticity. It says, “ Because tolerance is such an admirable goal, educators often choose to share books with children simply because the stories are about members of minority groups. But the tolerance is unlikely to be genuine if the books that try to foster it don’t tell the truth of the experience of members of minorities. It is therefore particularly important that such texts represent the people they describe with some degree of authenticity.” (174). I couldn’t agree with this more. If the stories the educators are providing don’t have a sense of realness about them and aren’t relatable, the kids aren’t going to get anything from them. Stargirl has a vast majority of characters who all break and conform to social rules, so everyone can relate to someone in the book.
Reflecting back on this book, I realized that so many kids go through the same thing that Stargirl went though every day. Kids today are brutal and if you aren’t what people considered “normal” then people don’t treat you the same way. I honestly couldn’t put this book down, and when Leo tried to get Stargirl to change because he wanted everyone else to accept her, it broke my heart. Theres such a realness to this book that it really has an affect on you when you read it. I really loved the end of the book because everyone realized that what they were doing to Stargirl was stupid, and Leo realized he should have never tried to change her. Society today puts such strict roles on what’s considered normal, and how you are defined as a person. I think it is so important to be an individual and express yourself in any way you want to. Individuality is a beautiful thing, and people should appreciate it more.
LENS 2
Stargirl - Critical
Stargirl is an amazing book written by Jerry Spinelli. It’s about finding who you are and dealing with the every day struggle of stereotypes. This book is filled with many hidden lessons and it really opened my eyes to problems in society today. As a whole our society is portrayed as accepting of others, but when I look around I see something far from that. Everyone is judged on how they look, how they act, what they believe in, and who they love. Stargirl really opened my eyes to these issues and I think this would be an amazing book to teach to kids in middle school and high school because it’s so accurate in depicting what most kids are going through in this period of their lives, and it could help them understand what other people are going through.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I think that it really emphasizes that its important to be who you are whether people accept you for it or not. Kids in middle school and high school are at a time in their lives where they are being judged for everything they do. I think this book would really help them to understand that its okay to be different. If I were to teach this book I would be able to do a couple different lessons because there are so many situations in the book that we could learn from. One of the lessons I would definitely do would focus on bullying, especially with what is happening in schools and over the internet today. Just because someone is different, it doesn't give you a right to make fun of them. When Stargirl first arrived at the school no one would talk to her and everyone thought she was weird, but they didn’t even know her. People just jump to conclusions and make assumptions about a person before they even know them. In the book Leo, another main character said,“We wanted to define her, to wrap her up as we did each other, but we could not seem to get past “weird” and “strange” and “goofy.” What qualities does someone have to possess for them to be considered weird and strange and goofy? I really liked this quote because it really shows that before they even knew anything about her, they already had her labeled as the new weird girl, and they weren’t even going to give her a chance. I think it’s really important for kids to know that this is hurtful, and you never know if you will like someone if you don’t give them the chance to show you who they really are. Another lesson that was hidden in the book was the importance of right vs. wrong. Leo knew that what everyone was doing to Stargirl wasn’t right, and he knew that he shouldn’t care that people were shunning him for associating with her. A part of the book that really resonated with me was when he said, “ In bed that night, as the moonlight reached high tide under my chin, I realized that in fact I understood the question perfectly, I just didn’t want to answer it.” (105). I loved this part because it is so relatable. Everyone no matter what age has been through something like this. People no matter what they say, care what others think about them, and we’ve all been through a time where we know that we should befriend the lonely girl in the cafeteria, or stick up for the small boy in the back of the bus, but we didn’t because we didn’t want other kids to make fun of us too. I think deep down we know what’s right, but we ignore those feelings because of fear. Kids should be willing to defend a classmate or one of their peers because it’s the right thing to do, they shouldn’t be scared that by sticking up for someone and speaking their mind, they will be made fun of in return. In the book Pleasures of Children’s Literature, it talks about authenticity. It says, “ Because tolerance is such an admirable goal, educators often choose to share books with children simply because the stories are about members of minority groups. But the tolerance is unlikely to be genuine if the books that try to foster it don’t tell the truth of the experience of members of minorities. It is therefore particularly important that such texts represent the people they describe with some degree of authenticity.” (174). I couldn’t agree with this more. If the stories the educators are providing don’t have a sense of realness about them and aren’t relatable, the kids aren’t going to get anything from them. Stargirl has a vast majority of characters who all break and conform to social rules, so everyone can relate to someone in the book.
Reflecting back on this book, I realized that so many kids go through the same thing that Stargirl went though every day. Kids today are brutal and if you aren’t what people considered “normal” then people don’t treat you the same way. I honestly couldn’t put this book down, and when Leo tried to get Stargirl to change because he wanted everyone else to accept her, it broke my heart. Theres such a realness to this book that it really has an affect on you when you read it. I really loved the end of the book because everyone realized that what they were doing to Stargirl was stupid, and Leo realized he should have never tried to change her. Society today puts such strict roles on what’s considered normal, and how you are defined as a person. I think it is so important to be an individual and express yourself in any way you want to. Individuality is a beautiful thing, and people should appreciate it more.